Job Discussion Forums

[ghost]

Currently working in Taichung - but no time to study or attend a course during the week.

Do you know of any language schools or Institutes which teach Mandarin to foreigners on weekends (Sat./Sunday)?

Another question: What is the best way to get basic conversational Mandarin?

1. Just learn the Pinyin system with the tones?

2. The 'Bupa/Mufa system' (sorry if the spelling is not right)?

3. Other methods?

The basic aim is conversational, but am told different ways by different people. It is confusing.

Any Mandarin speakers here - would you care to reveal which methods you used to gain reasonable fluency in the language and over which kind of time frame?

Have had two lessons with a Professor from Tunghai University, but am not really satisfied with the method - so far all the focus has been on learning the tones, with dry/abstract examples. Learning like this is not for everyone.

Thanks for any feedback.

[englishmaster]

I have searched for Mandarin classes that suit my schedule in Taichung, too. There is Taipei Lang. Inst.'s Taichung branch on Taiping Rd, but it's too far away from me. I don't know if it offers weekend courses.

Let me know if you learn of any weekend classes, and I'll post if I find out about any!

[sbettinson]

Hi there Ghost,

I live in Taichung and studied at the TLI centre on Taiping Road. I studied in a class of about 8 people for 3 months and then stopped for a while as I didn't have any time to study. Learning Chinese takes quite a bit of time and effort and focus on the tones is extremely important otherwise your mandarin will be crap to put it lightly. Mine is by no way good but time spent getting it right does pay off. I have just started again at TLI but 1 to 1 learning.

TLI in Taichung at the moment doesn't offer any weekend courses (I think Sunday they are closed) but it is open on Saturday. My suggestion is to go 1 to 1 when learning as the learning is more specific for you and you will get more chance to practice and pick it up quicker. It's NT$380 an hour at TLI and worth it in my opinion.

A guy at my school has been learning Chinese (written, spoken etc) at Dong Hai uni in Taichung for the past 6 months (5 days a week) and he studies a lot and is a complete hermit. His conversational ability is quite good but he says there is a lot more to learn.

There is also another place in Taichung called TLC that does courses but I don't know the address.

If you want any more info drop me a line.

Good luck.